The long-range goal for this research team is to build a foundation of information sufficient to enable the formulation of recommendations for changes in governmental policies, such as an extension of Medicare, mandated dental coverage under Medigap plans, the inclusion of full adult dental care coverage in Medicaid and an extension of mandated continuation coverage within the private sector. An intermediate goal for this research team is to follow this project with a RO1 submission to fully investigate the longitudinal relationship between the use of medical and dental services and to look at the trends in dental utilization over time. This proposed project builds upon and is an extension of several collaborative studies previously conducted by this research team. We will test the hypothesis and conduct this study using secondary data available from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey (MCBS). We will estimate the use of preventive dental care services by the Medicare population and how this correlates with general health care status, comorbidity, and utilization of medical services. Specific Aims: 1. Estimate the number and characteristics of Medicare beneficiaries with preventive dental care utilization. 2. Estimate the relationship between preventive dental care visits and general health status of the Medicare population. 3. Estimate the relationship between preventive dental care visits and medical care utilization for the Medicare population. This proposed project is innovative in its use of Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey (MCBS) data to specifically study preventive dental care services, general health care status, comorbidity, and utilization of medical services. MCBS, is the only comprehensive source of information on the health status, health care use and expenditures, health insurance coverage, and socioeconomic and demographic characteristics of the entire spectrum of Medicare beneficiaries. Results of this project will provide a better understanding of the relationship between preventive dental care services with general health care status, comorbidity, and utilization of medical services. It will subsequently provide important information about how to improve the quality of life and health outcomes among the elderly and as a consequence provide timely dental specific information for policy makers about Medicare, Medigap, Medicaid and private sector offerings of post-retirement continuation coverage. [unreadable] [unreadable] [unreadable]